Chapter 72: Fall of the First Authority
The central command hall of the Floor 8 forward fortress was a circular cathedral of pale bone and dull crimson flame. Ten Level 74 Arcane Magisters stood in a perfect crescent, staves already raised, layered mana shields interlocking into a single continuous barrier. At their center floated Commander Veyra, a towering figure clad in living pale-bone armor that drank the ambient light. Six translucent wings of compressed crimson energy extended from its back, each one etched with active runic circuits that continuously reinforced the formation.
Leon Graves stepped fully into the hall. The Aura of the End-Game expanded to its full fifty-foot radius the moment his boots crossed the threshold.
BOOM.
Absolute darkness flooded the chamber. The interlocking mana shields of the ten Magisters flickered and began to peel away in curling strips of gray ash. Their attributes dropped by forty percent under the passive weight of Finality. Gravity inside the circle multiplied, forcing several of the lighter-framed elves to one knee. The floating orbs of crimson flame dimmed and died.
Commander Veyra reacted with immediate precision. The six crimson wings flared, launching a coordinated barrage of compressed blood-light lances that tore through the air toward Leon’s position. Each lance carried enough focused energy to shear through mid-tier conceptual defenses.
Leon activated Abyssal Step.
His form dissolved into a weightless black line that slipped between the folds of the shadow dimension. The blood-light lances passed through empty space and continued into the far wall, where they carved deep, clean furrows into the pale bone. Six full seconds of complete erasure. He moved in a wide arc around the formation, emerging behind the rearmost Magister exactly as the timer expired.
The Abyssal Stinger left its sheath in a silent violet arc.
Squilch.
The blade drove through the lower spine of the first Magister. Necrotic Injection discharged, severing every active mana channel before a distress pulse could form. The body folded into a neat mound of dark gray sand.
The remaining nine Magisters turned too slowly. Leon’s free hand rose.
"[Activating Skill: Death Wave]"
A thirty-foot horizontal blade of compressed violet decay cut across the crescent at mid-torso height. All nine staggered as the 250 percent decay damage tore through their compromised shields and the secondary slow locked their limbs. Leon closed the distance in four precise strides, the Stinger moving in economical thrusts.
Squilch. Squilch. Squilch. Squilch. Squilch. Squilch. Squilch. Squilch. Squilch.
Nine additional mounds of gray sand marked the floor. Cool streams of extracted attribute paths flowed into his core through Absolute Extraction and Grave Reclamation.
[Ten high-tier Arcane Magisters destroyed.]
[Experience gained: 80,000.]
[Absolute Extraction Activated...]
Strength +14
Agility +11
Constitution +14
Mana +15
Maximum Mana permanently increased by +170.
Commander Veyra’s crystal mask turned toward the intruder. The voice that entered Leon’s mind carried a sharp edge of calculation.
"You erase mid-tier assets as though they were training constructs. That will not be enough on this floor."
The living pale-bone armor across Veyra’s frame flared. The six crimson wings folded inward and then expanded violently, releasing a wide-area blood-light suppression field designed to lock movement skills and reduce physical velocity by sixty percent. At the same time, the Commander raised both hands and began weaving a high-concept binding array—layers of interlocking crimson runes that would pin a target in place and continuously drain mana.
Leon did not attempt to outrun the suppression. He simply walked forward into it.
The full passive immunity of the Void Monarch Set nullified the movement lock before it could register. The Aura of the End-Game continued to erode the binding array the moment the runes entered its radius, turning the carefully constructed sigils into drifting gray ash.
Veyra’s wings snapped open again. The Commander launched itself forward at high speed, pale-bone gauntlets forming into dense crimson blades aimed at Leon’s throat and heart.
Leon activated Finality Eclipse.
The entire command hall lost sound and color for a fraction of a second. The SSS-rank skill forced the pure, concentrated concept of decay into a single point of physical impact, completely ignoring the remaining conceptual defenses of the living bone armor. The Abyssal Stinger drove forward and pierced the center of Veyra’s chest, where the primary blood-light core burned with dull crimson fire.
BOOM.
The core collapsed inward. The kinetic energy did not explode outward; it folded into a black vortex of necrotic fire that systematically ate through every remaining structure of the Level 76 first authority. The six crimson wings dissolved into gray ash. The living pale-bone armor turned brittle and crumbled. Commander Veyra’s towering form folded in on itself and became a single tall mound of dark gray sand at the center of the hall.
[First Authority Commander Veyra completely annihilated.]
[Total Experience Points gained: 110,000.]
[Level Up! You are now Level 41.]
[Level Up! You are now Level 42.]
[Unique Trait Activated...]
Target mana paths extracted: Your maximum Mana pool has permanently increased by +340 points.
Absolute Extraction Activated:
Strength +20
Agility +15
Constitution +20
Mana +22
A massive torrent of stolen attributes and pure mana flooded Leon’s core. His framework expanded smoothly to accommodate the influx. The residual violet smoke drifting from his knuckles faded into the cold air of the command hall.
He walked forward through the settling ash and retrieved the sole remaining object at the center of the sand mound: a heavy pale-bone tablet pulsing with dense administrative light—the Floor 8 Command Core.
[Floor 8 Command Core acquired.]
[Administrative override of the forward fortress is now possible.]
[All remaining Concord forces within Sector 01 have lost command linkage.]
[Path to the secondary transfer gate leading deeper into Floor 8 has been unlocked.]
Leon closed his fingers around the tablet. Through the Ashen Fog he felt the entire fortress’s remaining defensive protocols collapse one by one. Crystal turrets powered down. Residual constructs across the outer walls deactivated and fell still. The forward fortress of Floor 8 was silent.
He turned toward the far end of the command hall, where a secondary transfer gate had begun to materialize—a vertical tear of deep violet energy leading deeper into the Bleached Expanse and the true heart of the floor.